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Ancient Alaska and the Paleolithic Europe

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Ancient Alaska and the Paleolithic Europe ANCIENT ALASI(A AND PALEOLITHIC EUROPEl by JOHN M. CAMPBELL Previous proposals for early American derivations from Eurasia have treated various culture-time horizons in widely scattered regions of the Old World and have suggested a variety of ways in which traditions, cultures, or traits may have reached these shores (see, for instance, Bushnell and McBurney, 1959; Chard, 1959; Collins, 1951, 1962; Gjessing, 1944; Griffin, 1960; Irving, 1962; MacNeish, 1959b; and Wormington, 1957). The literature gives me the impression that a majDrity of recent writers interpret the Paleolithic record to mean that (1) one cannot yet speak with much certainty of the direct Old World derivation of any sizable, coherent constellation of early American traits, (2) on the other hand, certain specific, discrete, early American traits were directly de­ rived from the Old World, and (3) while, in certain instances, early American traits (specific core and blade techniques, for example) prob­ ably reached the Americas from remote sources, on the present evidence there is no reason to look beyond Asia for origins. Despite its title, this paper is not intended as a minority report, but rather, using the Brooks Range as a point of departure, as a review of recent archaeological and ecological evidence bearing on the possibility of Paleolithic connections between Europe and America. Resale Elsewhere (Campbell, 1961a, 1962b) I have described in part the Kogruk complex, discovered in 1959 on a kame terrace at the summit of Anaktuvuk Pass in the centralfor Brooks Range. In 1961 my associates and I further excavated the Kogruk site and, in addition, found another early lithic assemblage in Anaktuvuk Pass, which I call the N aiyuk complex. Descriptive and comparative summaries of those complexes are pertinent to the present discussion.2 The original NotKogruk series of rude flake and blade artifacts re­ covered from just below the present ground surface in an area of 125 square feet, was supplemented in 1961 by additional specimens, found concentrated beneath the sod in an area of less than 50 square feet, about 75 yards from the first finds (Plate I illustrates selected Kogruk artifacts from both the 1959 and 1961 collections). The second collection contains a much larger proportionate number of unused, unretouched flakes ·than the first; but, in addition to further examples of several of 1 I am grateful to my colleague, Professor Patrick Gallagher, for critically reading the first drafts of this paper. 2 The Kogruk and Naiyuk sites were discovered during explorations supported by the Arctic Institute of North America; the Office of Naval Research, United States Navy; and the National Science Foundation. 29 Anthropological Papers of the University of Alaska [Vol. 10, No.2 2 Resale 3 4 for Not 5 6 Plate I. Kogruk flake and blade artifacts. 1, flake, slightly retouched on bulbar surface; 2, flake, slightly retouched on both surfaces; 3, blade, retouched on non-bulbar sur­ face; 4, 5, flakes or blades, slightly retouched on bulbar surfaces; 6, flake, retouched on non-bulbar surface. To scale, length of 1, 20 inches. 30 CAMPBELL] Early M an in the Western American Arctic the implement types recovered in 1959, it also contains types absent from the 1959 assemblage (most notably, perhaps, a single-f>dged flake scraper ). Implement types of the total series include "points" or "end blades" (both flake and blade examples); various, slightly retouched flake and blade knife-like tools; large, thick flake bifaces (perhaps knives), at least two types of flake scrapers; flake gravers; a single example of a flake "saw"; and choppers fashioned from massive flakes ("flake-core" imple­ ments). A single, unworked obsidian spall in the 1959 collection is probably intrusive. A few unworked spalls and two well retouched flake implements of chalcedony in the 1961 collection perhaps also do not properly belong to Kogruk. With those exceptions all of the specimens are of dull gray chert, probably quarried from a single deposit, of a sort which I suspect occurs in the immediate area of the Pass. A further, perhaps more telling, homogeneity is reflected in the Kogruk implement categories. All of the tool types share several major characteristics. Only a few manufacturing techniques were used in fashioning Kogruk tools, and those techniques bind the several typological elements in a distinctive, cohesive assem­ blage. Whatever the history of Kogruk "culture" may have been, the homogeneous Kogruk complex suggests a technological tradition of con­ siderable antiquity and relative isolation. There is nothing in Kogruk that reflects development beyond relatively Resalevery simple flake, blade, and biface techniques, and nothing that speaks of a blending of diverse cul­ ture ways. In previous discussions of the series collected in 1959 (Campbell, 1961a: 14-17; 1962b: 41-2) I fornoted resemblances between some Kogruk artifacts and European Paleolithic implements, as well as similarities between Kogruk specimens and some of those from the Levalloiso­ Mousterian levels at Et Tabun Cave, Mount Carmel, Palestine (Garrod and Bate, 1937), certain artifacts from the Mal'ta site, northeast of Lake Baikal (Bonch-Osmolovsky, 1953), and from the early British Mountain phase at Engigstciak,Not on the Firth River, northernmost Yukon Territory (MacNeish, 1956, 1959b). To these might be added the caves of Teshik­ Tash, southeastern Uzbekistan (Okladnikov, 1939, 1940; Movius, 1953) and Ust'Kanskaia, in the Ob River watershed (Rudenko, 1961), prob­ ably the site of Afontova Gora, in the Yenisei valley (Bonch-Osmolovsky and Gromov, 1936; Gromov, 1945), and a series of open sites in Pata­ gonia. (I shall further note the latter in a discussion of the N aiyuk complex.) The total Kogruk complex does not closely equate with the total collection (or total phase) from any of the sites noted above. There are enough similarities between Kogruk and British Mountain to suggest that both are closely related members of the same flake tool genre, but 31 A nthropological Papers of the University of Alaska [Vol. 10, No.2 resemblances between Kogruk and the others are somewhat more obscure, if not fewer. All, however, appear to share a constellation of tool making techniques which together carry the stamp of the European Paleolithic. Specifically Kogruk claims membership on the basis of types of Rakes struck from unprepared, or roughly prepared cores, apparently with batons of wood, bone, or antler; resolved retouching of some Rakes and blades; Rake and rude blade "points" of various shapes and thicknesses, which retain bulbs of percussion and remnants of striking platforms; a type of thick, single-edged scraper with a rather steep, roughly Raked working edge; and a general restriction of retouching to the edges of implements.3 Several of these Kogruk traits are also present in the much more heterogeneous and sophisticated N aiyuk assemblage which, typo­ logically, is the closest Kogruk relative in the long Anaktuvuk sequence. The Naiyuk complex (PI. II) is from a site adjoining the Tuktu site area (Campbell, 1961b) on a kame terrace four miles north of the summit of Anaktuvuk Pass. N aiyuk Rake and blade artifacts of various types of stone occurred in a gravel matrix to a maximum depth of about 10 inches below the dense sod surface. Implement types, which were directly associated in the site, and which appear to represent a single phase, include large, well retouched blades ("points") retaining striking platform remnants; large end scrapers and side scrapers on blades; large, Rake end scrapers and side scrapers (including large "Mousterian" racloirs); large, bifacial knives; large, thick Rakes, slightly retouched to form cutting or scraping tools; a singleResale thick, percussion Raked "hand­ ax"; and finely worked lanceolate points, most of which are characterized by thin lenticular cross sections, parallel sides, transverse Raking, straight or slightly convex bases, and edge grinding. Flake scars on a few artifacts possibly represent burin blows.for And on at least one specimen there IS a Chapeau de Gendarme striking platform. A preliminary analysis of the total collection suggests that the com­ plex incorporates elements of at least two supposedly different traditions. On one hand, the lanceolate points typologically belong to what has been termed the Not"Plano" (formerly "Yuma") tradition (Edwards and Jen­ nings, 1948; Griffin, 1962), represented by numerous complexes in west­ ern and northwestern North America (MacNeish, 1959a, 1962; Worming­ ton, 1957). Except for one or two broken points which appear similar 3 The observations of Drs. H. M. Wormington, Henry B. Collins, Hans-Jurgen Muller-Beck, and Ralph S. Solecki (all of whom are personally acquainted with European Paleolithic materials) have been of more than ordinary importance to comparative evalu­ ations of Kogruk and Naiyuk. Dr. Wormington briefly examined the first Kogruk collec­ tion, and Drs. Collins, Muller-Beck, and Solecki have seen both the Kogruk and Naiyuk assemblages. In view of the stated aim of this paper, it is only fair to say that while their comments cause me to look more directly toward Europe for early Brooks Range ana­ logues, none of them have proposed a direct connection between the Anaktuvuk complexes and European industries. 32 CAMPBELL] Early Man 1,n the Western American Arctic 2 Resale 4 3 for Not 6 5 Plate II. Naiyuk artifacts. 1, thick flake, scarred on bulbar surface; 2, blade, retouched on non-bulbar surface; 3, Bake or blade, unretouched; 4, 5, flakes or blades, slightly retouched on both surfaces; 6, flake or blade, doubled-edged side scraper. To scale, length of 1, 2~ inches. 33 Anthropological Papers of the University of Alaska [Vol. 10, No.2 to Plainview specimens, N aiyuk lanceolate points are probably more nearly like Angostura points (Hughes, 1949: 270-4; Wormington, 1957: 137-8, 268-9) than any other commonly known Plano type, but they differ from typical Anaktuvuk Kayuk points (Campbell, 1959, 1962b; [which also in some respects resemble Angostura specimens]) in having straight bases (several specimens), transverse flaking, thin cross sections, and in being edge ground.
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